18 - the confession of the blind man

john 9 depicts a man, blind from birth, receiving sight from Jesus on the sabbath, and being questioned.

his parents were so afraid of the jewish leaders, that they did not even try to answer the prosecuting questions, but rather, the parents deferred them to their very own son.

but this son was not afraid. in fact, he was almost insulted by their incompetence and was so matter of fact with them.

v24 - the pharisees say to him, "give glory to God! we know that this man is a sinner"

v25 - the man answers them, i am not sure if He(Jesus) is a sinner, but one thing i do know, i was blind, but now i see.

v26 - the pharisees still are stubborn and hardened in their hearts and so ask him again, how did He do this to you?

v28, 29 - the pharisees defy Jesus's authority and say legalistically, we are disciples of moses, but you are a disciple of Him. we know that God spoke to moses, but for this man, we do not know where he comes from.

v30 - the man, now aware of the hypocrisy and unable to disregard his miraculous experience declares, "what an amazing thing! he has opened my eyes and yet you say that you dont know where he comes from."

v31-33 - the man, is now coming to the realization that Jesus is in fact, the Christ - "we know that God does not listen to sinners, but if anyone is a worshipper of God and does His will, God listens to Him. never since the world began has it been heard that anyone opened the eyes of a man born blind. if this man were not from God, he could do nothing."

and having been cast out of the place, Jesus finds this man, and asks him:

v36 - "do you believe in the Son of Man?"

and finally, the blind man, now able to see, replies,

"Lord, i believe". and he worshiped Him.

Oh, how i long to be like this blind man. being almost forsaken by his parents to stand the questioning of the authorities, pressed about his experience with Jesus, he never wavered in his testimony about Him. although he didn't have a full understanding and confession in His heart that Jesus was the Christ when the questioning started, through the trials and tribulations and questioning that the pharisees placed upon him, by the end of it, the man was able to come to a full realization and conclude that Jesus is the Christ. and he worshiped Him.

once blind, now able to see. stood the trial unwavering his devotion to telling the truth as it is, and through it, became a believer. now, a worshiper.

in life, through the trials and tribulations, we may waver in our devotion and faith in God. but we must not forget. we must not dumb down the facts. we need the hardships in order to come to a fuller realization that Jesus is our Lord and Savior. and ultimately, it is through these experiences that we will ultimately worship Him.

17 - well if He did it then i guess...

• "And after he had dismissed the crowds, he went up on the mountain by himself to pray. When evening came, he was there alone" (Matthew 14:23).
• "And when it was day, he departed and went into a desolate place" (Luke 4:42).
• "But he would withdraw to desolate places and pray" (Luke 5:16).
• "In these days he went out to the mountain to pray, and all night he continued in prayer to God" (Luke 6:12).
• "He took with him Peter and John and James and went up on the mountain to pray" (Luke 9:28).
• "He departed and went out to a desolate place, and there he prayed" (Mark 1:35).
• "He went up on the mountain to pray" (Mark 6:46).

i guess i should go up the mountain and pray. off to bear mountain! hahah

something to get back to part deux

oswald chambers never gets old!

How are we going to get a life that has no lust, no self-interest, and is not sensitive to the ridicule of others? How will we have the type of love that "is kind . . . is not provoked, [and] thinks no evil"? ( 1 Corinthians 13:4-5 ). The only way is by allowing nothing of the old life to remain, and by having only simple, perfect trust in God— such a trust that we no longer want God’s blessings, but only want God Himself. Have we come to the point where God can withdraw His blessings from us without our trust in Him being affected? Once we truly see God at work, we will never be concerned again about the things that happen, because we are actually trusting in our Father in heaven, whom the world cannot see.

something to get back to

October 22, 2009

The Witness of the Spirit

The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit . . . —Romans 8:16

We are in danger of getting into a bargaining spirit with God when we come to Him— we want the witness of the Spirit before we have done what God tells us to do.

Why doesn’t God reveal Himself to you? He cannot. It is not that He will not, but He cannot, because you are in the way as long as you won’t abandon yourself to Him in total surrender. Yet once you do, immediately God witnesses to Himself— He cannot witness to you, but He instantly witnesses to His own nature in you. If you received the witness of the Spirit before the reality and truth that comes from obedience, it would simply result in sentimental emotion. But when you act on the basis of redemption, and stop the disrespectfulness of debating with God, He immediately gives His witness. As soon as you abandon your own reasoning and arguing, God witnesses to what He has done, and you are amazed at your total disrespect in having kept Him waiting. If you are debating as to whether or not God can deliver from sin, then either let Him do it or tell Him that He cannot. Do not quote this or that person to Him. Simply obey Matthew 11:28 , "Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden . . . ." Come, if you are weary, and ask, if you know you are evil (see Luke 11:9-13 ).

The Spirit of God witnesses to the redemption of our Lord, and to nothing else. He cannot witness to our reason. We are inclined to mistake the simplicity that comes from our natural commonsense decisions for the witness of the Spirit, but the Spirit witnesses only to His own nature, and to the work of redemption, never to our reason. If we are trying to make Him witness to our reason, it is no wonder that we are in darkness and uncertainty. Throw it all overboard, trust in Him, and He will give you the witness of the Spirit.

16 - moving forward

in many ways, i need to move forward. there is joy to be found in the immediate future, and far away future. this process is tough, and rough, but praise the Lord for His faithfulness and the knowing that He will not give anything more than i can bear.

from a john macarthur sermon:

"In thinking about the loss of my Mom this week, it was very hard to find joy in the midst of mulling about her death. In thinking of her as having a cerebral hemorrhage and falling to the floor, thinking of her not being around anymore and never seeing her and stuck in that moment, you find yourself almost overwhelmed by the sadness of the loss. As you think about it from a Christian perspective, it isn't long until you start thinking forward and you start thinking about the fact that beyond what occurred there is heaven and that's where she is and that's where she'll be when you arrive. You begin to think pass the moment of pain and the joy begins to break on you like the dawning light after a night of darkness. Whenever you encounter the variegated trials of life, whenever that happens, my brethren, begin to think forward, don't get stuck in...in this moment. Life...and I reminded my Dad of this again, he knows it well, he's preached it all his life...but I reminded him life is a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away. It's a brief breath, this life, and when you think forward you think of reunions and you think of the glories of heaven and you think of eternal life, and you think of being made like Christ, eternal glory and blessing.

So, whenever you encounter these trials, you are to think forward to the joyous reality that is beyond. And not only in the case of a death, but in the case of an illness. Instead of getting wrapped up in the sadness of the immediate experience, you begin to think forward to...what?...to what God is producing through that. I think of the words of the apostle Paul who...who could think beyond his own pain, so much that he could say when I'm suffering I'm receiving the comfort of God in my suffering so that having learned that I'll be able to comfort you in your suffering. In going through my own pain now, I am being prepared in the future to be able to help you deal with your pain. In going through the frustration of loss and going through the unfulfilled dreams and having my goals never achieved, not getting the job I want, the education I want, the position I want, not getting what I want in my marriage or my family, or whatever it might be, I realize that even in the midst of that suffering God is burning away some of my pride, some of my ambition and God is reforming my waywardness and moving me more into the kind of suffering that refines me and makes me more like my Savior. And that's looking forward, isn't it? Can't get stuck in the midst of the pain and experience the joy. You've got to go forward."

and

"You see, that's very important to know. You need to know that. And I need to know that things don't happen in our lives just helter skelter. They don't happen in our lives willy-nilly, they don't happen in our lives by luck. It isn't just a bad day. There is a sovereign God working in the life of every believer purposely to achieve His end. I need to know that. If I don't understand that about my God, then I am really going to have a difficult time looking forward and finding that joy. If I believed that...as the latest wave of theologians are telling us, this new process theology...they're teaching that God is not who the Bible says He is, He's a work in process. And He's kind of scrambling along like the rest of us trying to sort it out and develop into what He ought to be. I am not interested in a God like that. I don't want a God who is up there trying to figure Himself out, sort through things and work His way up some...some spiritual ladder to become what He ought to be. God is not in process to become something He is not now. Scripture says that God is who He is and He's unchangeable. He doesn't need to change, never has, never will. I need to know who my God is. I need to have a sound theology. I need to have a sound understanding of the nature, the immutable, that's a word that means unchanging, the immutable, He doesn't mutate, He doesn't change, He doesn't alter. The character of God is fixed and established. I need to know not only that God is unchanging but that God is sovereign. That is to say that there is no power that can thwart His efforts."

15.5 - spiritual starvation

being a Christian and not reading the Word is like a physically hungry and thirsty man that voluntarily continues to starve himself of physical food.

15 - what was meant for evil, God can make good.

ive said it once, and ill say it again and again...and again. praise the Lord for the redemption of the internet! i still cant imagine how much of a blessing it is to have the resources that we Christians have in our generation. john piper at our fingertips! thoughts of driscoll on youtube! online webcasts of willow creek conferences.

truly, anything can be used for the glory of God.

here is another snippet i found that i found worth posting.

jon bloom in his article about "amazing grace in the wrekcage of adultery" writes:

"To those who, like David, have fallen, take heart. If you have repented and trust Christ, he has borne all your condemnation. And though you view with painful and appropriate regret the damage your adultery caused, keep your eyes open. It is like God to bring something unexpectedly and amazingly good from it. Because the grace of God is stronger than the sin of man."

again and again, God keeps putting the words "grace" and "mercy" into my life.

and ive found that in my current season, it is His grace and His mercy upon my life that causes me to rejoice in my sufferings. His grace is sufficient for me.

"not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings. because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope.and hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out His love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us."